Mechanical railway-signal



(No Model.) 2 Shets She et' 1'. B. A. KARR, L. KOENIG 81: L. A. WOODS.

MECHANICAL RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 599,656. Patented Feb. 22,1898.

F J A BY A TTORNEY.

THE mums PEYE! w. PHOYO-LITHD.. WASNXNGYGN, o. o.

UNITED STATES BURTON A. KARR, LORENZ KOENIG, AND LEWIS A. WOODS, OFOMAHA rrrcE.

NEBRASKA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.'599,656, dated.February 22, 1898. Application filed. March 16, 1897. Serial no.627,892. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, BURTON A. KARE, LORENZ KOENIG, and LEWIS A. 'WooDs,residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain useful Improvements in Mechanical Railway- Signals; andwe do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same,re ference being hadto the accompanying drawings,'which form a.

part of this specification.

This invention has relation to a novel improvement in mechanicalrailway-signals.

The object of this invention is to provide a mechanical railway-signalso arranged that the device Will be practically continuously operatingas well as automatic in its operation, as will be described more fullyhereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a View disclosing thearrangement of the track-levers in conjunction with the op eration ofthe alarm or signal. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 show, respectively, a top, side,and end view of the operating mechanism as employed in our invention.Fig. 5 shows an enlarged view,partly in'section,with portions removed,of the clock mechanism used in our alarm. Fig. 6 shows a side elevation,with portions a removed, of one of the boxes, disclosing the anisms, soarranged that the alarm will be actuated by one of said releasingmechanisms if the train goes in one direction and by the other releasingmechanism if the train passes the track in the opposite direction, andbeing further provided with an operating device by means of which thealarm is wound whenever a single engine, car, or coach passes over thesame. a

In furtherance of the aim of our invention we employ two systems ofreleasing mechanisms which are identical in construction with theexception that one is made to actuate from the right side and the otherfrom the left side. A central winding mechanism in position is shown inFig. 1, where at A and B two releasing mechanisms are shown in position,while centrally and at O the location of the winding mechanism isdisclosed.

In referring to Fig. 1 it will be noticed that we have shown a system ofsupporting-bars ff, which for the sake of convenience representtelegraph poles along the railway right of way, and to one of which wesecure 'at or near the crossing our alarm mechanism. This mechanismcomprises a train of gearing which can be made to operate any suitableaudible alarm or visual signal, such as a gong or semaphore or the twocombined. This operating mechanism would comprise a preferablygravity-actuated train of gearing comprising the main gear 14 upon asuitable shaft 16, which gear is provided with a ratchet 17, aspring-operated pawl 18,secured to said gear 14, a suitable weight Kbeing secured to a drum '19, secured to the ratchet 17, so that theweight K has a tendency normally to unwind and'actuate the train ofgearing until said weight should meet some obstruction to check itspath.

In order to provide a proper controlling mechanism, we connect the gears13 and 14, the 'gear 12 being in shaft connection with said gear 13, agear 11, meshing with said gear 12, said gear 11 being in shaftconnection with a gear 10, a gear 9, meshing with said gear 10, a gear 8in shaft connection with said gear 9, and an ordinary governor-fan 5 ingear connection with said gear 8. This would embody the train of gearingpractically; but to stop this train of gearing and normally hold thesame in a wound condition we use (now re- IOO into the path of aprojecting arm 4, forming part of a coil-spring secured to the gear 6,so as to compensate the shock of the spring-arm when coming in collisionwith the upwardlyextending stub 3' to stop the train of gearing. Thegear ll is further provided with one or more pins 1.5, which are placedin the path of the laterally-reciprocatin g spring-bar 3, (stillreferring to Fig. 8,) so that a second check is imparted to the train ofgearing by virtue of this spring-lever 3 holding and preventing therevolution of the gear 14.

Now in starting the train of gearing we employ a strand or bar 19, whichis secured to a suitable bell-crank 50, as is shown in Fig. 8, whichbell -crank is provided with a slot through which the bar 19 passes andwhich is provided with a stop 82, upon which the bar of the bell-crankworks, a spring 51 normally drawing said bell-crank in an upwarddirection, said bell-crank being secured within the housing 52 by meansof a shaft 86, and a suitable operating-strand 79 being adj ustablysecured to said bell-crank in such a manner that when said bell-crank isdrawn outward said bell-crank carries down the bar 19 to draw up theweight K, which is permitted by means of the pawl and ratchet 17 and 18,so that said train of gearing is wound at a single tilting of thebell-crank, which would be accomplished in the collision of the firstwheel with a suitable track-bar, and all subsequent wheels passing overthe same would simply tilt the bell-crank without winding the sameunless the alarm mechanism were running, as but one movement of thisbell-crank, as has been stated, is necessary to wind the train ofgearing sufiieiently.

To provide a system of alarms fora suitable number of separate anddistinct signals, in Fig. 8 we have shown an ordinary gong 18, which isactuated by a suitable clapper 17, pivoted within the clock-housing andprovided with an upwardly-extending arm 16, engaged by series of pins 12to sound said alarm.

Now the mechanism we use to release the alarm, which is supposed duringits use at the first time to be wound mechanically or by manual power,comprises twoilevers I) and c, which are pivoted adjoining the track bymeans of the shackles 58, and which tracklevers are held at one endslightly above the level of the track, so that the tread of the wheelsof the vehicles in passing over the same will depress these levers.

Now referrin g to Fig. 2, should a train come from a direction so as toengage first the lever marked 1) this lever would be depressed by thefirst wheel-flange to actuate the pivoted bar H, which is pivotallysupported by the shaft I in the saddle-block 51, to raise upward therearward end 1) of this lever, this lever H being normally forceddownward at its rear end bymeans of a spring M, (shown in Fig. 3,)working about a guide N and pressing above against the stop 0, so as tonormally tilt the rear end of the lever b to force upward the free endof the lever. Pivoted in line with the lever H is a stub-lever 59,pivoted at its rear end by means of a shaft 56, which stublever isprovided with a pivoted tilting dogs, which is made to ride over theprojecting end 1) of the front lever H, an operating-strand a beingsecured to this stub-lever 59, which strand works over a pulley a, andwhich strand a (referring now to Fig. 1) will be noticed to be guided upa post and through a sheave 49, then over a sheave a and then to apivoted bar 30, a spring 7 2 normally drawing said strand a toward saidlever, and this lever (referring now to Fig. 9) is provided with asecond strand a, which is secured to the depending bar 1, which isprovided with an upward extension 2, which is shown in dotted lines inFig. 8 and which is adapted to draw the bar 3 laterally away from thepath of the pin 15, which permits a downward tilting of the rear end 3to allow the operation of the mechanism to ring the alarm.

Now referring back to Fig. 2, should the train, however, have come froma direction so as to first ride over the lever c this lever 0 would havecarried upward the rear end of its lever to actuate and engage theprojecting bar a, secured to the tilting dog .9, so that before thewheel could actuate the second lever to operate the stub-lever 59 thetilting dog 3 would be drawn from out of engagement with the rearportion 1), so that while both levers b and 0 would be depressed therewould still be no operation of the strand a as the tilting dog had beenthrown backward and out of engagement. An arrangement ofinstrumentalities similar to this is used at the opposite side, thedifference simply being that one is made left-handed and the otherright-handed, the instrumentalitics beingentirely alike with theexception that the bar 71, is placed to the right in one instance and tothe left in the other, the bar 1' in this instance also beingtransferred from one side to the other. central system of leverscomprising the bars I), which are secured by means of the depending barIf to a shackle g, which in turn secures them to a tilting bar it,mounted upon a shaft 71, suitably supported, and which bar 7L isnormally held in a downward condition by means of a spring M, workingagainst a stop 0, said spring working over a bar N and being provided inthe rear with the strand 79, passing over a suitable sheave, and thisstrand 7 9 passing over the sheave 52 and being secured to the strand 19and terminating upon the drum 19. By the arrangement of theseinstrumentalities it will be noticed that as soon as a train passes overthe first system of levers an alarm is given at a central point, andwhen arriving at this central point the mechanism is again wound andpasses over the second lever system, but without operating the same.

In referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 6 a bar 0' IIO The mechanism is wound bya 7 will be noticed extending from the bar h and passing below the bar729. This isdone so that as the car-wheels pass over the lever b v Inother Words, whenever the bar-h is first tilted the bar 72, is carriedwith the same, but the bar h can be carried up at the rear end Izvithouteffecting the movement of the bar In the drawings we have further shownin Fig. 1 a supporting-strand a which is supported by means of a seriesof depending Wires j, which wires are fixed above to'thesupporting-strand a, but have terminal loops, within which the lowerwire a issupported.

Now, having thusdescribed our said invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with two adjoining independently-pivoted leverscomprising a main and a secondary lever, of striker-heads extending fromsaid levers, an actuating-bar, a pivoted dog secured to saidactuating-bar normally connecting said main levers to said bar, and athrowing mechanism securedto said secondary lever toactuate said dog,said instrumentalities being arranged so that if said main lever befirst operated, said barwill be actuated, but if said secondary lever befirst operated, said swinging'dog will be discon nected to remaininoperative.

2. The combination with a signal of a train of gearing, said train ofgearing being norreleasing mechanism to start said train of gearing,said mechanism being duplex in action, and arranged so that if actuatedfrom one direction, said signal remains inoperative ,mally held in awound condition, acontact- 7 but when actuated from the oppositedirection, said signal is actuated.

3. The combination with a suitable signa comprising a train of gearing,of a strikerhcad in conjunction with said train of gearing, saidstriker-head being actuated by a body passing over the same, and areleasing mechanism, said releasing mechanism comprising the combinationof two adjoining independently-pivoted levers comprising a main andsecondary lever, of striker-heads extending from said levers, anactuating-bar, a pivoted dog secured to said actuating-bar normallyconnecting said main lever to said bar, and a throwing mechanism securedto said secondary lever, to actuate said dog.

gearing, normally wound and placed adjacent toa railway-track, a leverplaced adjacent to said railway-track and adapted to be depressed by thetread of the wheels passing over said rail, the movement of said leverbeing utilized to wind said train of gearing, and tworeleasingmechanisms positioned adjacent to saidtrack upon opposite sides to saidwinding-lever, and being duplex in construction and arrangedso that thefirst duplex-lever system engaged will release said central train ofgearing and sound an alarm, the subsequent duplex-lever system remaininginoperative, all arranged as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

BURTON A. KARR.

LORENZ KOENIGU LEWIS A. WOODS.

- 4. The combination in a signal of a train of

